“THE TRAGIC DEATH OF HUNTER BERRY”

“THE TRAGIC DEATH
OF HUNTER BERRY”

As you go through every day life, you
never think for a moment that it could happen to you. These
terrible tragedies only happen to other people, because you
could never even imagine the pain of losing a child. It's too
much to bare even thinking about. But the worst did happen to my
family. I hope you will read on in the hopes that this story may
save your child or a family member's life someday.

On July 16, 2007, our
worst nightmare became a reality. We took our family and a few
friends to the Coco Beach Resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on
vacation. Our 9-year-old son, Hunter, was with us. We had been
there for two days, having a great time. Upon his grandmother's
arrival to the resort, he kindly ordered her favorite drink at
the bar. She waited in the room for him to deliver her luggage
to her, because he loved to do those things, but he didn't come
back.

Donny (Hunter’s dad)
and his daughter Steely were just getting back to the dock from
snorkeling, when they both received calls to get down to the
pool immediately. When everyone arrived, it was a horrendous
scene. Hunter was lying lifeless on the ground while two
American tourists were performing CPR on him. Donny went frantic
begging to know what had happened. Apparently, he was playing in
the three connected hot tubs and there was no one else in them
at the time. He lost his footing, hit his head and was knocked
unconscious, then drowned without anyone noticing for at least
10 minutes.

When the witnesses,
including Hunter's family, were asking for help, none of the
lifeguards or resort pool staff knew CPR. That is when the
tourists, that just so happened to be a doctor and nurse, began
performing CPR on their own. After about 40 minutes of pumping
water from Hunter's lungs, they asked for a defibrillator and
oxygen to take the next potentially life-saving steps, but there
was none on site available anywhere. By this time, an ambulance
had been called. It took them an hour to arrive. When they got
there, they still had no medical equipment whatsoever available.

Basically, they came
to retrieve a body and had no intentions of saving a life. It
appeared they just wanted to clear the scene and move the body
quickly to avoid any media or keep as many people as possible
from witnessing the tragedy. Since the Mexican officials came so
unprepared, you would think they would be gracious enough to
allow the American tourists to keep performing CPR, at least
until the family was satisfied that no more could be done to
save Hunter. To Donny and his family's horror, they forced them
to stop doing CPR. Donny begged the officials to let them
continue. The doctor told Donny he had revived people after an
hour or more of CPR, when oxygen and a defibrillator were
available, of course. Donny picked his son up in his arms
begging them to please do something. They told Donny to "put the
body down”. He refused. He said, "No one can tell me not to
touch my son”. The officials drew their guns and said that if he
didn't put him down, they would arrest him. After Donny set his
lifeless son on the ground, the Mexican officials pulled
Hunter’s eye open, poked a careless finger to his chest for a
second, then said, "He's dead, there's no need to do CPR”. They
then carried him across the entire pool. As if this wasn’t
handled badly enough, the Mexican officials, to use a nice word,
placed his body in the back of, not an ambulance, but a pickup
truck with a gem cover on the back. (I’m sure you've seen
something similar used for construction on our roads.) In
complete disbelief, this was how the death of their son was
treated.

Donny later went to
the funeral home to see his son. The man at the funeral home
refused very hatefully. Donny, desperate to see him, offered the
man $200.00. He greedily accepted and let him see Hunter's body.
After all was said and done, Donny walked out without paying the
man who didn't dare argue.

Hunter was an amazing
little boy full of love for his family and friends. He loved
baseball, football, and had the hopes and dreams that all
children are entitled to. His life was cut short by this
tragedy. Hunter’s family received no compassion from the COCO
BEACH RESORT, the resort staff or the Mexican officials.
Hunter’s little body was treated with such disregard.

No matter how great
of a swimmer your child is, do not let them out of your sight
for a second. But all that aside, research the hotels and
resorts you choose to stay at, especially in other countries.
Ask them what medical precautions they take for their guests.
Ask if they have oxygen and defibrillators. You never know when
you or a loved one may need them. Check to see if their pool
staff is certified in CPR. If they answer “no” to any of these
questions, then they do not care about the safety of their
guests. They do not deserve your money or trust as a customer.
The Berry family, still to this day, have received no apology
from the COCO BEACH RESORT IN PLAYA DEL CARMEN or FUN JET. We
have also posted a similar story on Trip Advisor, and they
deleted our entire forum. Their slogan is "Get the truth, Then
Go”. I guess they only want their readers to have the "pretty
truth”. There are a lot of politics involved, but this is an
injustice to the 20 million North American tourists for which
Mexico reaps financial benefits from annually. Mexico
contributes to 1/3 of all “non-natural” deaths of U.S. citizen’s
abroad in the world! Our family believes that it is every
citizen’s right to be aware of the unnecessary deaths of
children while vacationing in Mexico. It should be the right of
all citizens to know how frequently these deaths occur. Mexico
needs to enforce safety standards for all resorts/hotels as a
means to prevent such senseless and unnecessary deaths. There
are many people to be held accountable here, and to get justice
will be a long process. But the best way we can preserve
Hunter's precious memory is by getting his REAL story out to as
many people as possible in order to save other people's lives.

We are writing from
our hearts to ask your assistance to make sure that no other
family has to endure the personal tragedy that our family was
forced to endure. Please help us do that by passing this email
on to as many people as possible, whether you know us personally
or not.